When I interviewed Emma Clarke, the voice of the Underground, for my post yesterday, I didn't realize quite how historical the conversation would be. The freelance voiceover artist and comedy writer was apparently fired Monday by the London Underground -- not for her spoof announcements, but because a U.K. newspaper reported that she didn't take the Tube because she didn't like it.
News of Clarke's dismissal has sparked an international media frenzy, and she is running this notice on her website: "Unfortunately, my site is currently overwhelmed by the sheer number of people wanting to download MP3s of my spoof Tube announcements. Please check back in a day or so."
Clarke (self-pictured left, as a Green Lady) called me just now to say she is overwhelmed by the support she's had from all over the world. "I'm gobsmacked," she said, "not least by the power of the internet."
She has yet to hear officially from London Transport, but says her original comments were reported out of context: "What I said was I wouldn't want to travel on the Tube and hear my voice over and over. Just as I don't like waking up to a radio alarm that is running a commercial I have voiced."
There's word of a Facebook group dedicated to reinstating her as the voice of the Underground. And with nearly 90,000 hits on her site Monday, there's no such thing as bad publicity. Watch this space. Or this gap.
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